Finding Draco Malfoy
by oceaniceyesofblue
Summary: Hermione has a seemingly impossible case looking for him. Draco has the seemingly impossible job of continuing to live the way he is. A series of events brings them together in an accident. Can she love a murderer hiding in another's skin? DMHG postschool
1. Counting Trees

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me at all. **

**Note: Okay so this is the first chapter of my first fic! -confeti- Anyway reviews would be awesome and let me know what you think!**

**Counting Trees**

Her hair splayed out in a messy mass of curls as she brought her head down on the desk a fourth time. She pounded her fists on the arms of her cheap swivel chair none too gently. How did this keep happening? He was there and then in flash he wasn't! Why, why, why, why? This just wasn't fair! Hermione growled and actually felt her eyes tear up in frustration. How did this happen to her? She was not a vain, egotistical person, but she was the brightest witch of her age dammit! And yet, the king of blaringly obvious, the sire of outspoken opinions (most definitely unwelcome opinions), the patriarch of the infamous, and one of the most well-known people in the wizarding world today, was one-step-ahead-ing, planning, and hiding circles around her!

She picked her head up and glared at the digital clock on the wall, the numbers glared back at her in the angry red forms reading: 11:57 p.m. She had worked a fourteen hour day, not including the time she had spent before the office even opened. She was the first one to arrive this morning, and she was by far the last to leave. A long sigh emitted from her mouth as she pulled the manila folder together haphazardly and stood, simultaneously pushing six empty Styrofoam coffee cups into the trash bin.

The portraits in the ministry halls blinked at her groggily being woken by the echo of her footsteps. She stepped out into the almost morning chill and apparated to her flat. Leonardo meowed at her from his high perch on the sofa as if reminding her that she'd once again broken the resolution to come home at a decent hour. He jumped gracefully down and padded over to her on the linoleum flooring, making figure eights around her ankles signifying that he was ready to be fed. She placed the can of cat food by the fridge and removed her shoes and coat throwing them over her large and overstuffed bag, fully intending on doing nothing other than showering and sleeping. She was exhausted, she needed rest and could work on the case tomorrow; Hermione mantra-ed herself, it didn't matter that it had been a full month since she'd had any kind of significant lead. No, that didn't matter now, what mattered was that she needed sleep. It also didn't matter that she was mainly doing guesswork, and that he was still out there winning the hide and seek game they were playing, her mind added in a cynical, sarcastic way. Oh, and it didn't matter that people's lives were still being ruined by that man, while she lay asleep in her bed. An arrow of guilt speared her heart. She raced back down the hall and snatched the manila folder back out of her bag. Leo looked at her oddly, almost as if seeing through her, could he tell? Could he possibly know what had made her like this? Of course not, answered logic. "Stop it." She ordered the cat as he stared at her calculatingly. He couldn't possibly understand what had happened.

Back in her bedroom, she pushed away the loosed memories she'd just seen and opened the file. Numbers, descriptions, and text all attacked her eyes. She began what she'd done for the past month, really what she'd been doing ever since first year at Hogwarts; she studied.

**-DM-**

He lay back down on his threadbare cloak; he couldn't sleep at all, again. He couldn't shake the feeling that the animals could still see him even though he had cast wards around this place. Maybe they could, he thought. Maybe they could even feel his fear of them seeing, as if they could talk and tell the world where he was. He knew exactly what the punishment for working with his lord was. The kiss, a fate far, far worse than death, even hell would be better. The only hope he had at living with his soul and dying with it for that matter, however broken it may be, was continuing; faithfully killing people. To make it more bearable he would blink at the exact moment he cast the curse, and he would think to himself, that no one was truly innocent, that he wasn't killing pure people. He kept seeing them though, those that had died by him, one woman in particular. She'd looked so familiar, she looked like a fine woman, and she was a Christian too. She had hope after death; he'd tell himself when he woke up from one such nightmare. She'd believed in something better, while he just tried to survive here. She had large brown eyes, and a kind motherly look, not beautiful, but there was something in the creases of her face that appeared lovely. She was not large or shriveled at all, aging gracefully, probably not even that old about fifty-four he'd guess. He didn't know her name, he knew who she was though, and he'd easily seen the same woman in a mudblood he'd gone to school with. She was Granger's mother, not only in looks, but in character. She'd sat down before him. She didn't try to fight him, just made herself comfortable lying down on her couch, closed her eyes and smiled. Her lips mouthed a silent prayer and then, "Okay, I'm ready." She'd said; it was like she was laughing at him. Draco took her life that instant, blinking so that he didn't see, and then left without touching a thing.

He envied her, she was so hopeful, so at peace with the world, and here he was fighting just to keep on. His mind taunted him with dreams of her, the woman's image would sneak up on him at random moments, and she would haunt him every time he'd point his wand at another. He tried extremely hard nowadays to avoid muggle raids. He bet she'd known this was going to happen to him after she died. For some reason though, he'd also bet that she believed that he had some reason left to breathe.

Draco turned over trying to get in a more comfortable position, though it didn't matter, he was still resting on firm ground. He faced the trees, daunting in their size and hiding whatever lay deeper in the forest, and he began to count them. His mind lulled into a haze at such a tedious task. There were hundreds of trees around him, just at this spot. By the time he reached thirty-two, he was in a fitful sleep.

**Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! I would love some feedback and a review would be great!**

**Liz**

**1,197 words**


	2. Eustace Harlot Doesn't do Shorthand

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me...

A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than the last one and it doesn't seem like much is happening but it is necessary to the story.

**Eustace Harlot Doesn't do Ministry Shorthand**

Sun streamed in through the window and woke her. She'd forgotten to pull down the shades. She'd forgotten everything besides the case. She was still fully clothed with her work suit from yesterday. She even had her shoes on. Leo mewed his hunger at her from the closed door. She disentangled herself from the scattered papers and grayish comforter wrapped around her legs, let herself out sleepily, and made for the kitchen to feed the whiny feline she called a pet.

Once Leo was fed and she'd had enough of his seemingly knowing glances at her, she went back to her "master bedroom" and picked out a change of clothes at random and showered, finally. Her hair came out just as frizzy as it was before she got in and she didn't bother to care, just put it up in its usual ponytail and left the flat feeling utterly tired and defeated. Draco Malfoy was pro at being evasive. She'd spent until four a.m. searching for some hint or trace of his whereabouts, something missed in her previous examinations, but she was empty handed once again and her boss was not exactly thrilled with the situation.

After apparating to the front of the ministry building and climbing the grand looking steps outside she darted to the elevator, avoiding her boss as much as possible and not stopping to chat with her co-workers. She didn't exactly have friends here, this was a work place not to be used for socializing; unfortunately she seemed to be the only one that thought so.

Geoffrey who occupied the office a few doors down politely nodded to her on the lift and didn't acknowledge her further. They stepped out together, bumping rather uncomfortably, He mumbled words of apology and stepped back from the open doors, before he got his foot out of the lift once again Hermione had disappeared inside her office. She had luckily not run into her boss, a portly man named Eustace Harlow, but her luck was short lived when she spied a navy colored envelope on her desk; Mr. Harlow's signature color. Dejectedly she grabbed a letter opener and read her doom.

_Ms. Granger,_

_I was most pleased when you came to work for us, practically fresh out of school and with tremendous records behind you. However, it has been more than four months since you were given the case, I assume you know to which I refer. I am slowly losing confidence in your abilities and to prevent having to dismiss you from your position I am assigning Mr. Landon Stanley to the case for assistance. I understand your wish to work alone, but wishes are wishes and this is as of now a requirement. He will begin work in a fortnight._

_Best of luck,_

_EH_

**Eustace Harlow**

**Head of Magical Law Enforcement Squad **

**1****st**** office, 2****nd**** floor, Ministry of Magic**

Hermione groaned this was incredibly irritating! She was doing all that was possible and certainly more than was required. Had Mr. Harlot…oops, Harlow even checked the hours she clocked in? She'd worked more than double overtime for no pay and no recognition just so he could send her, his hardest working employee, some over the top formal notice that she wasn't doing well enough and he was sending the help of a person who would just skive her off and then take the credit! She was fuming as she ripped the memo to shreds and hurled what was left in the waste bin. There was one solution to her dilemma; she would have to crack the case before 'Mr. Stanley Landon' had the chance to even open the files.

Perhaps she was being selfish, or glory-hungry, but this was why she wanted to work alone. She didn't do well sharing work. Call her a perfectionist, or obsessive, but Hermione didn't feel that things were done properly unless done herself. It was just how she was.

She pushed herself back from her desk forcefully, rolling farther back than intended and stomped out to the break room to grab a coffee and then it was back to work, for the next…she glanced at her watch, dismayed that she'd only been here a whole twenty-two minutes, twelve hours at least.

She pushed open the door to the fluorescent lighted, sadly neglected break room. She supposed having an awful place to take a breather was the ministry's way of keeping the employees working. Nobody would want to spend more time than necessary in the dirty, lack luster room. Therefore, with the promise of solitude, she sat right down with lukewarm coffee. Work could wait another few minutes. She was running on empty for today's caffeine quota.

Halfway through her cup, the door swung open. Hermione didn't bother to look who it was, she was going to be ignored and she preferred it that way. She heard the fridge door open and then footsteps on the chipped tiling. "Is this seat taken?" The male voice behind her questioned. She shook her head tersely hoping to display her want for minimal conversation. She was most definitely not in the mood. "Hello…" The man made a move to see her tag hanging around her neck.

"Hermione, Hermione Granger." She supplied. She may not be greatly social, but she wasn't rude.

"Oh! Really?" She couldn't help but wonder if he'd really just asked that. Was she really Hermione Granger? Come on, she realized some of her co-workers were a little on the slow side, generally from lack of sleep, but this was a new low.

"Yes." She answered resisting the intense urge to roll her eyes and ask him what one plus one equaled and how many fingers she was holding up.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I'm Landon. Landon Stanley. Did you get the memo from Eustace this morning?" Oh fabulous. She was getting stuck with this git for a partner. Looks like she got him pegged earlier, if he was disrespectful enough to call his boss by his first name, he'd definitely be disrespectful enough to ditch her.

"Yes, I got the memo. You aren't starting work for another two weeks right?" His brow furrowed when she sounded eager.

"Oh, well I could start earlier, I just have to fill out some forms for the case I just finished, do some interviews. If I worked hard enough I could be done in a week." He looked back at his re-heated lunch obviously crunching time-frames in his head.

"No, no. Two weeks is perfectly fine." Hermione quickly reassured him. "There is no need to rush yourself. This job is hard enough as it is." She gave him a smile she hoped was perceived as understanding and kind. "Actually, two weeks is a little on the short side, don't you think? I mean I know how busy it is at the end of a case, and there is a definite need for recuperation afterwards. Well…anyhow what I'm saying is that you can take as long as you need. Just take some personal time, I would bet you're exhausted and you deserve it." Hermione remained nonchalant through her little speech and worked at convincing herself that she was not being selfish, but offering the man a favor. He did look a bit on the overworked side.

Landon smiled, "That's really…wow…thank you. I hope you don't mind me taking you up on the offer, I really am tired and my niece isn't thrilled with my hours lately. I missed her birthday two days ago because of a crucial meeting with Eustace and the head of department. She's a sweet girl and a good sport but I could tell there was damage, after all she is just nine years old. I promise I won't take a full week from you. Just three days tops." Hermione smiled again.

"Take as long as needed. I understand. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a big work day ahead of me." She stood and tossed the Styrofoam cup out.

"See you around." He called. With a nod she left. She didn't run in to many people in the halls. It appeared they were all hard at work. She'd give it three more hours until some of them began to try and leave.

Hermione had had about enough of memos for the day but opened this one anyway knowing full well that it probably wasn't what she was hoping for; a lead. She'd contacted the department of magical transportation asking them to watch for a specific apparition or disaparition trace that might be linked to Malfoy. There hadn't been a word from them.

And that didn't change today. It was from Harry.

_Hermione,_

_Lunch with Ron at Zelda's?_

_Dinner?_

_-HP_

She sighed. There was no way she could make it tonight. This had been happening for the past week. Harry or Ron and sometimes both would ask her to come with them to brunch, breakfast, lunch, dinner, quidditch game, or a work party and every time she'd turned them down. They began claiming that they had forgotten what her face looked like. Mrs. Weasley had been complaining about her hours writing her that "all work and no play is a sure fire way to shorten your days" and other motherly sayings.

_Harry,_

_Can't. _

_Wish I could. _

_-HG_

A pang of guilt hit her once she put her quill down. She missed them, she really did, but the case, it had to be cracked. She couldn't rest until this killer was thrown into the darkest cell in Azkaban. He deserved much more.

A reply owl came quickly.

_Hermione,_

_Breakfast tomorrow same place?_

_Brunch?_

_Haven't seen you in ages. _

_-RW_

Ron and Harry were probably shouting her answers to each other through the thin wall that separated them in their offices. They were both aurors and the ministry honored their request of having adjacent work spaces. It was amusing as well as disturbing how much one could get using Harry's name.

_Ron,_

_Can't do that either. _

_Sorry. _

_Miss you both._

_-HG _

_P.S. Tell Harry no to lunch and dinner. _

She regretted the last line of her memo instantly after there were no more owls from them. Hermione sighed and guessed that they were probably quite aggravated with her. They had a right to be. She pushed her social life aside and went to her file cabinet pulling a folder out labeled LUCIUS MALFOY-DEATHEATER. She'd see the sunrise through her window tonight.

A/N: Well I don't really like Hermione all that much in this chapter because she's very tired, her day was ruined, and she acted more on the rude side than on the polite gryffindor bookworm side we all know she should be on. We will get to see some of her old self soon though so don't worry. Let me know what you think with a nice little review -smiles and points at review button-.

1,919 words

-Liz


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